Character Counts

There is a structure which everybody is building.  It is called character; and every act of life is a stone.  Day by day you should be careful to build your life with pure, noble, upright deeds.  Then the several deeds will unite to form a day; the days will grow into noble years; and the years, as they slowly pass, will raise at last a beautiful edifice, honored by God and men.

Although you are not conscious of it, this great structure of character is going up, point by point, story by story.  Because it is a building that must stand the test, the Word of God warns you to take heed that you build it, not for the hour in which you live, but for that hour of revelation when you shall be seen just as you are. 

The value of character is the standard of human progress.  That man or nation who lightly esteems character is low, groveling and barbarous.  Wherever character is made a secondary object. sensualism and crime prevail.  He who enters upon any study, pursuit, pleasure, habit, or course of life without considering its effect upon his character is not a trustworthy or an honest man; and he whose modes of thought, states of feeling, everyday acts, common language, and whole outward life are not directed with regard to their influence upon his character is a man always to be watched.  As a man prizes his character; so is he.  This is the true standard of a man.

Source: The Royal Path of Life, Forwarded by Peter Mordh